India to offer jobs to manual sand miners after deaths exposé

MUMBAI, Sept 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Authorities in western India have begun the process of offering alternative work to men risking their lives illegally mining sand, after aThomson Reuters Foundation investigation in Julyuncovered at least two deaths in the past year.

A Maharashtra state official also announced plans to legalise and regulate sand mining along Vasai Creek outside Mumbai by auctioning sites.

"We have asked the district heads of Thane (city) and Palghar district to give these workers employment in their districts," said Siddharam Salimath, deputy commissioner in the revenue department of Maharashtra state.

"We have also instructed the district heads to stop all illegal excavations," he said in a phone interview.

Sand mining has been declared illegal in many parts of India with countless court petitions highlighting the danger it poses to coastlines, marine life, and sand reserves.

Most of India's sand is extracted by suction pumps from rivers, often illegally, and manual mining is also common in many places, driven by rising demand from the country's fast growing cities.

The sand is used across the construction industry, in the flooring of upmarket apartments in Mumbai and Thane and to plaster the walls of cheap, illegal homes in distant suburbs where people are moving as space tightens in the cities.

Miners make 1,000 Indian rupees ($16) for a boat-full of sand and gravel, much higher than the average daily wage in India of about 270 rupees.

Salimath said new jobs will be created for the sand miners or they will be given work, such as road building, under existing government schemes for the rural poor.